The AFL-CIO and United Steelworkers formally launched a campaign yesterday targeting Southern California carwashes in violation of labor and safety laws. The effort also is an attempt to organize a union of local carwash workers, which could represent as many as 18,000 employees, the Los Angeles Times reported.
During a press conference yesterday, union officials urged consumers to question carwash operators about their employee wages and to avoid carwashes that charge less than $8 for a complete wash, the Times reported. Some carwashes have been targeted for picketing, the newspaper said.
“For too long, carwash owners have operated in the shadows, violating labor and health and safety laws with impunity,” said María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, in a released statement. “This coalition is going to do some spring cleaning of a dirty industry, and bring these injustices out into the open.”
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is the chartered Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO in Los Angeles County and is the second largest of its kind in the nation, representing more than 350 unions and 800,000 workers, according to the organization’s Web site.
The coalition, called the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), is comprised of labor, community, religious and immigrant rights organizations. In a press announcement yesterday, the CLEAN campaign formally announced its support of union-organizing efforts by the Car Wash Workers Organizing Committee (CWWOC) of the United Steelworkers.
The CWWOC recently released a report that alleges labor, health, safety and environmental violations by numerous carwash operators from accounts given by carwash workers and from citation reports from various California agencies. The report paints a grim picture of Southern California carwash working conditions, recounting workers’ stories of pay below minimum wage or non-payment for hours worked, denial of breaks and of employees being forced to work in hazardous conditions without safety equipment or proper training.
The coalition announcement also comes on the heels of a Los Angeles Times investigative report published on Sunday which said two-thirds of the carwashes inspected by state labor officials since 2003 were out of compliance with one or more labor laws — albeit some of them minor. In the article, David Dorame, a lead investigator at California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, estimated that half or more of Southern California carwash owners disregard the minimum wage law.
The Times also reported that some carwash workers in the Los Angeles area earn as little as $1.63 per hour. The minimum wage in California is $8 per hour.
“We work 10-hour days, sometimes for as little as $35 a day, without breaks,” said Jose Torres, a worker at Vermont Handwash in Los Angeles, in the coalition announcement issued by the L.A. County Federation of Labor. “The work is dangerous and the owners often cheat us out of the wages we earn. As carwasheros we are treated without any dignity or respect. That’s why I’m standing up with my co-workers to improve conditions in the carwashes.”
The CLEAN coalition has explicitly targeted carwash owner Bennie Pirian, whose family owns eight carwashes in Los Angeles County, including Vermont Car Wash, according to the Times. The coalition plans to picket three locations owned by the Pirian family this weekend, the newspaper reported.
Workers employed by Pirian described having their pay shortened and being forced to work without protective gear, according to the CLEAN campaign announcement. In addition, workers are routinely fingerprinted before receiving their paychecks, the coalition said.